Colonel Ninian Beall..

Historical Papers J^
of the Society of %^
ColoniaiWars in the
District of G)Iumbia
No. 6,I9n Ji^jft

C. C. Magruder, Jr.

COLONEL

NINIAN

BEALL.

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

Born in Largo, Fifcshirc, Scotland, 1625,

Died in Prince George's County, Maryland, 1 7 17.

Historical Address on the
Occasion of the Dedication
of a Memorial Boulder to
Colonel Ninian Beall
Delivered by

Caleb Clarke Magfr«der, Jr.
in St. John's Cnurch,
Georgetown, D. C,
Sunday, October 30, J 9 JO.

Printed under the auspices of

The Society of Colonial Wars in the District of Columbia

January 27, 1911

©if t

to

^

Introduction.

IN the summer of 1909 the finding of a large boulder
in a cut on the line of the Metropolitan Southern
railway near the junction of the right of way with
the Glen Echo railway was communicated to Dr. Marcus
Benjamin and by him promptly referred to Mr. William
Van Zandt Cox, then Governor of the Society of Colonial
Wars in the District of Columbia.

Appreciating the fact that this boulder might be used
to preserve the memory of Colonel Joseph Belt whose
career had been so fully presented to the Society in a
valuable paper* by our Historian, Mr, Cox at once ap-
pointed a Committee on Memorials, as follows: Mr.
Thomas Hyde, chairman, Mr. Caleb C. Magruder, Jr.,
Judge Job Barnard, Dr. Marcus Benjamin, and Mr.
Williams. Knox. The Committee was quickly convened
by its chairman and their first efforts were directed
toward securing formal possession of this valuable find.
The rock was inspected by members of the Committee
who found to their great satisfaction that since it had
blocked the progress of the contractor he had so blasted
it as to make two boulders of nearly equal size. Through
the courtesy of Mr. George E. Hamilton, local attorney
for the Metropolitan Southern railway, permission was
given to the Committee to remove the boulders. They
were accordingly placed in the vicinity of Chevy Chase
Circle where they remained until authority was given to
the Committee for final action.

In the autumn the Chairman of the Committee made

^Historical Paper, No. 5, Colonel Joseph Belt. By Caleb Clarke
Magruder, Jr., with Patent and illustration of Chevy Chase
manor-house, pp. 36. 1909.

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4 COIvONEIv NINIAN BEALL

a verbal report to the Society recommending that one
boulder be placed near Chevy Chase Circle to commemo-
rate the services of Colonel Joseph Belt, and that the
other be erected in Georgetown as a memorial to Colonel
Ninian Beall, whose association during the Colonial pe-
riod with the province of Maryland now included in the
District of Columbia, had previously been interestingly
described in a paper read before the Society by Mr.
Zebina Moses and later privately published by him.

This report was approved by the Society and the Com-
mittee was authorized to have the boulders placed in
suitable localities. The Committee visited various eligi-
ble sites, and finally decided to place one boulder at the
northwest corner of the parking facing All Saints' Church,
at the junction of the Belt Road and Connecticut Avenue,
Chevy Chase, south of Grafton street and just within the
District line.

The other boulder was erected at the southeast corner
of O and Potomac streets on the grounds of St. John's
Church, Georgetown, D. C. It was also recommended
that the boulder in memory of Colonel Beall be dedicated
in the autumn of 1910, and that to Colonel Joseph Belt at
a date to be decided upon later. It is hoped that these
granite boulders commemorating the life and works of
worthy colonial heroes may serve to testify to the high
respect and esteem with which their memory is preserved
by loyal descendants in the Society of Colonial Wars.

There remains only to add that because of the interest
of a descendant of Colonel Ninian Beall, a member of the
local Society, an appropriate bronze tablet was obtained
and placed on the boulder in Georgetown. An account
of the exercises that formed a part of the dedication
ceremony is also included in this pamphlet.

The Ceremonies.

WHEN information came to the Committee that
the bronze tablet for the Ninian Beall memo-
rial bearing an inscription prepared by the
Historian, was approaching completion Justice Barnard,
Governor of the District Society, appointed a committee
consisting of Dr. Marcus Benjamin, Mr. Zebina Moses,
and Mr. Frederick D, Owen to arrange for the dedicatory
ceremonies. The general preparation of the program was
undertaken by the Chairman, while to Mr. Moses was
assigned the care of the church, and to Mr. Owen, whose
skill in similar functions is so favorably known, was
given the charge of the outdoor exercises of the unveiling.

The day selected was the last Sunday in October, and
shortly before four o'clock in the afternoon the members,
wearing the insignia of the Society, gathered in the
rooms of the Parish House and then at the appointed
time, preceded by the standard bearers carrying the flag
of the Society and the Nation's colors, and led by Gov-
ernor Barnard, followed by former governors, and offi-
cers, and then the members, marched into the church.

Scarcely had they taken the places assigned to them
when the organ broke forth with the music of the proces-
sional hymn:

"Ancient of days, who sittest throned in glory;
To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray."

Following the choristers, chanting the sacred words,
came the clergy, including the Reverend Doctor Roland
Cotton Smith, Chaplain of the Society; the Reverend
Frederick B. Howden, rector of St. John's; Archdeacon

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6 COLONEI. NINIAN BEALL

Richard P. Williams; and the Right Reverend Alfred
Harding, Bishop of Washington.

Then came the Choral Even Song, the Rector ofi&ciat-
ing, and the lesson from the Epistle to the Hebrews being
read by Archdeacon Williams. The Prayers included
the following one specially prepared for the Society of
Colonial Wars:

O God, who hast promised in Thy Holy Word to show
mercy unto generation after generation of those who
love Thee, and keep'Thy commandments. We give Thee
hearty thanks for the good examples of all those Thy
servants who bore faithful witness for true religion and
Christian freedom in the days of our forefathers. And
we humbly beseech Thee to continue Thy protection to
their children, and especially to the members of the
Society of Colonial Wars. Strengthen them to be de-
fenders of their country's Godly heritage, and mercifully
grant that all things in this, our Fatherland, may be so
ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations,
that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and
piety, may be established among us for all generations.
All of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Eord.

At the close of the Service the choristers sang the

martial hymn:

"The Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain."

Then came the address of Mr. Caleb C. Magruder, Jr. ,
the Historian of the Society, which appears elsewhere in
this pamphlet.

The anthem by Nay lor followed, the opening sentence
being: "Behold, God is great, and we know Him not, the
number of His years is unsearchable."

The Society, with its flags, then passed from the
church, and, with the clergy, assembled about the me-
morial boulder. The Chaplain of the Society conducted

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 7

the outdoor service, which began with the following
exhortation:

Good People, We are gathered together in the Name and
Presence of Almighty God, to dedicate a memorial of the
noble works of which we have heard with our ears, and
our fathers havedeclared unto us that God did then in their
days and in the old time before them. For they got not
the land in possession through their own sword, neither
was it their own arm that helped them; but God's right
hand, and God's arm, and the light of God's countenance,
because He did a favour unto them. Wherefore I beseech
you to call upon God our Father, through our Lord
Jesus Christ, that he would assist us in this our present
undertaking, and in all other works undertaken for the
glory of God and the good of this nation.

This was followed by proper prayers including the
Collect for the Society of Colonial Wars.

The memorial was then unveiled by the following
members of the Society, descendants of Colonel Ninian
Beall: William M. Beall, J. Malcolm Henry, J. William
Henry, Thomas Hyde, Caleb C. Magruder, Jr., Dr.
Steuart B. Muncaster, Dr. Henderson Suter, and Dr.
Walter A. Wells. After which the memorial was dedi-
cated with the following words:

On behalf of the vestry of St. John's Church, George-
town Parish, in the Diocese of Washington, I do dedi-
cate this boulder, erected by the Society of Colonial
Wars in the District of Columbia, to the memory of
Ninian Beall. We yield Thee hearty thanks most merci-
ful Father, that it hast pleased Thee to place among men
Thy servant of strong arm and Christian voice whose
works helped to make possible the building of our nation
and the spread of Thy teachings. We thank Thee also
for those of his children who have followed in his path-
way of Christian religion and civic virtue. And humbly

8 COIvONEL NINIAN BEALL

we beseech Thee to grant, that by Thy grace, all his
worthy qualities may be born again in each succeeding
generation to the glory of Thy Holy Name and the per-
petuation of our country, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The service concluded with a benediction by the Right
Reverend Alfred Harding, Bishop of Washington. Dis-
tinct features of the occasion were the choral service
under the direction of Organist and Choirmaster Will-
iams, and the presence of numerous descendants of Colonel
Beall, many of them members of American Clan Gregor,
as were also members of the District of Columbia Society
of Colonial Dames, and members of the Club of Colonial
Dames, both of which organizations were officially invited
to be present.

Colonel Ninian Beall.

By Cai,eb Clarke Magruder, Jr.

WHEN its travail is past and its young growth
attained nations are wont to indulge in retro-
spection. This world-old custom gives rise to
patriotism and the writing of history.

These twin subjects stimulate similar efforts, for
"History is past politics," and genealogy is past personal
history.

Among the resultants have been the erection of monu-
ments, the placing of tablets, and the setting of boulders.

Such is a most wholesome custom for by them we make
live again the deeds of our heroes, acknowledge the
priceless heritages bequeathed us, and blazon in the paths
of youth those qualities which in perpetuation shall pre-
serve "us a nation."

And so with these three-fold desires it is a happy occa-
sion which brings us together in the waning shadows of
this holy afternoon, for we are met to record in bronze
on everlasting rock the deeds of a conspicuous factor in
Colonial days.

The boulder set in the Cathedral Close to mark the
route of Braddock's march against Fort Duquesne stands
as the first memorial of a local colonial event, and the
boulder we shall soon unveil will stand as the first com-
memorative of a local Colonial personage.

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10 COIvONEL NINIAN BEALL

Therefore it is with a measure of pardonable pride that
the Society of Colonial Wars in the District of Columbia
greets their friends in this hour of another successful en-
deavor in patriotic duty and personal gratification.

The inscription on yonder tablet is a concise statement
of many winnowed facts. It is my pleasant task to be
more diffuse, and recount services — military, civil, and
secular — so that knowing them, and remembering the
period of his activity, we may all the better appreciate
that this memorial stands not only for the man, but for
all the noble qualities which were his.
/ Ninian Beall was born in Largo, Fifeshire, Scotland,
in 1625. He was a loyal Scot and cornet under the ban-
ner of Leslie who was routed by Cromwell and Monk at
the battle of Dunbar in 1650.

Taken prisoner there he was transported to Barbadoes
and thence to Maryland, where he settled in Calvert
County about 1655, certainly as early as I658,

A victim of the fortunes of war he was sentenced to
five years in bondage — an honorable servitude — and that
he performed its requirements honestly and faithfully is
evidenced by the Provincial records of January 16, I667,
reading: "Then came Ninian Beale of Calvert County,
Planter, and proved right to 50 acres of land for his
time service performed with Richard Hall of same
county."

Ninian Beall' s earliest activity in Indian affairs is sug-
gested in an order of May 16, I676, emanating from the
Lord-Proprietor and his Council, by whom he was sum-
moned to appear before them to testify regarding the
murder of five Susquehannocks.

The Navigation Act, passed in 1645, and many times

The Finding of the Boulders.

/

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 11

reenacted, restricted the carrying of exports and imports
on English bottoms between the mother-country and the
colonies, and was the cause of pronounced complaint in
Maryland and Virginia.

So great became the discontent in the latter province
that hostilities began under Nathaniel Bacon — the first
American Rebel — in I676, just one hundred years before
the signing of an instrument whose spirit of defiance
inspired a type which made revolution possible.

Fearing the revolt might assume large proportions in
Maryland, where an armed force under Davis and Pate
had already assembled in Calvert County, Governor
Thomas Notley ordered the "Loyall Charles of Mary-
land," Lord Baltimore's "Yacht or vessel of warr" to
cruise in the waters adjacent to Virginia under command
of Captain John Coode and Ninian Beall whom he named
as Lieutenant on November 8, I676. "And I Doe hereby
constitute and appoint Ninion Beal, your Lievetenant in
said Yacht or Vessell, who is hereby also authorized and
empowered to act doe and performe in all thinges as
3'our Lievetenant, as amply fully and largely to all intents
and purposes as if he had read a Speciall Commission
drawneto that purpose."

Fortunately at least for the peace of the two colonies
Bacon's meteoric career ended within a few months — some
authorities say by poison — when Davis and Pate paid the
penalty of insurrection with their lives.

There seems to be no record of Ninian Beall as a
private soldier, but doubtless his military experiences in
Scotland had prepared him for immediate martial leader-
ship in the new world.

The policy of Maryland settlers was always one of

12 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

equity and good will toward the Indians, which bore
fruit in kindly reciprocal action.

There were long the isolated murder and occasional
attack expected of savage natures, some times inspired
by the evil influence of rival parties, but the colony
never experienced such massacres the descriptions of
which form bloody pages in the history of sister colonies.

The Patuxents, the Piscataways, and the Choptanks
were early friends. The Nanticokes and Susquehannocks
were more ferocious, but the former were soon tamed,
and the latter were forced to friendliness as a matter of
self-preservation from their ancient enemies the Senecas
and the Oneidas.

Notwithstanding such occasional disturbances only the
possibilities of greater dangers existed. Realizing these
a most thorough system of ranging throughout the
borders of the province was inaugurated by Ninian Beall,
and we can recall no equally preventive measure under
the leadership of one so seemingly well acquainted with
Indian nature.

On the 10th of August, I678, Lieutenant Beall, now
for the first time styled Captain, was ordered to range
about the head of the Patuxent River to insure the safety
and defense of the neighboring plantations, but to offer
no violence unless provoked.

The diligence and thoroughness with which this duty
was performed, and the appreciation of Lord Baltimore
and his Council is indicated by a subsequent commission
"by his Lordship's especiall command," carrying the
exercise of broad military discretion in these words:

' 'You are hereby Authorized and Empowered Upon any
occasion of Indians comeing into your parts, or other

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 13

emergent business, to press a mann and horse to give
what speedy Intelligence thereof possible you cann to his
Ldsp, for which this shall be your Sufficient Warrant.
Dated at St Maries the 13th Day of January Anno Dmi
1681.

Signed p order and appointment of the Rt honble the
Lord Propry

p John lylewellen
cl consil
To Captain Ninian Beale
These"

The exact date of his promotion to the rank of
Major is not of record, but he held such rank March 24,
1689, when he was ordered by Henry Jowles, Colonel of
Calvert County, to hold his command in readiness to
learn the attitude of the Indians prior to the outbreak of
the revolution of that year.

The basic events which led to the Revolution of 1689
were a series of unfortunate and unpreventable circum-
stances. Because of them the lyord-Proprietor was
robbed of his inherited Charter rights, and the people
deprived of that freedom of conscience through religious
exercises always theirs but more specifically proclaimed
in the Toleration Act of 1649. By this act Maryland
became "The Land of Sanctuary," and as such stood
unique and alone among the thirteen colonies.

In 1684 George Talbot, a kinsman of Lord Baltimore,
boarded a ship of the King's navy used to collect custom
duties. Among the crew was Christopher Rousby, a
notorious character one of the King's collectors. While
in a drunken condition Rousby insulted and attempted
to assault Talbot, who stabbed him to death. Shortly
after John Payne, another collector, was killed in a
private brawl.

i

14 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

James II having been forced to abdicate his throne in
favor of his daughter Mary in 1688, Lord Baltimore im-
mediately dispatched a messenger to the Council with
instructions to proclaim William and Mary as rightful
sovereigns, but the messenger died before landing.
Other colonies proclaimed the new rulers but the Council
of Maryland awaited instructions.

The cry arose that the crown was being robbed of its
just custom dues, that the Proprietary government was
unfriendly to William and Mary, who were Protestants,
and that the Catholics were bent on restoring King
James to the throne. The movement was not at first
popular, but owing to ignorance of affairs because of
scattered habitations religious prejudices were aroused
by alleged plottings and murder.

John Coode, who gained an unenviable prominence be-
cause of his connection with Kendall's rebellion in his
effort to overthrowlyord Baltimore's government in 1659,
raised the standard of revolt as the protector of the Prot-
estants and the representative of King William. An
association being formed with Coode as its head they
marched to St. Mary's and dispersed the Council,

L,ord Baltimore's adherents under Colonel Henry
Darnall engarrisoned themselves at Mattapany but were
shortly outnumbered and surrounded. Finding further
resistance could only lead to the sacrifice of many lives
they received articles of surrender signed by Coode,
Ninian Beall, and others. Forced to capitulate on the
offered terms all their arms and ammunition were sur-
rendered to Colonel Henry Darnall and Major Ninian
Beall.

The immediate result was the formation of a Protestant
Association by which Coode was made Commander-in-

COI.ONEL NINIAN BEALL 15

Chief of military forces and the governing head of civil
affairs with Ninian Beall as a leading assistant in both
branches of government. King William was petitioned
to take possession of the colony, which he speedily did
and sent out Sir lyionel Copley as governor in 1691.
Maryland thus became a Royal Colony and so continued
for twenty-five years, although lyord Baltimore's charter
was permitted to remain in force.

Coode proved himself a high-handed tyrant in many
ways, particularly in his restrictions toward the Cath-
olics, and made the blackest page in Maryland history.

The Revolution of 1689 was the greatest upheaval,
civilly and religiously, in Maryland from the time of the
planting of the colony until the outbreak of the Revo-
lutionary war. Apart from the circumstances before
mentioned it is almost incredible that such a despicable
character as Coode could involve so many substantial
men in the vortex of his ambitions. That the reports
concerning plots between Catholics and Indians to mur-
der Protestants was without foundation is evidenced by
a letter written March 27, 1689, and signed by many
representative men of the province, among them Ninian
Beall.

One of the early acts of the Council in 1692 was the
establishment of the Church of England as the state
church of the colony, a measure favored by Ninian Beall,
although he was a Presbyterian.

The popularity and prestige of the promoters of the
Revolution was short-lived, Coode in particular falling
into quick disfavor. He reappeared again in 1696, when
he was elected a Burgess from St. Mary's County, but Gov-
ernor Nicholson, backed by his council, refused to ad-
minister the oath of office to him, asserting that as an

16 COLONKL NINIAN BEALI.

apostate lie was debarred by the laws of England from
membership in a legislative body.

Coode offered to foreswear his ordination. The House
of Burgesses, actuated more by a determination to main-
tain their prerogatives than by regard for the man, de-
clared their right to be judges of the qualifications of
their own members and insisted on his membership.
Governor Nicholson was as "A Head of Iron," and
when he added blasphemy to the charge of apostasy the
House took counsel with itself, and endorsed his stand.

Coode immediately sought to overthow the government
he had been prominent in establishing, but his character
was too well known, and as a discredited alarmist, he
was forced to flee the colony. He afterward returned
and was pardoned, an example of maudlin magnanimity.
This episode is the origin of the organic law of Maryland
which prohibits any clergyman being a member of her
legislature, the only one of our states with such a legal
inhibition.

When Sir Francis Nicholson became Governor, he
issued a proclamation over date of July 27, 1694, con-
tinuing in service all military and civil ofl&cers holding
commissions under his predecessor's Council by whom
Major Ninian Beall had been made Colonel and Com-
mander-in-Chief of all their Majesty's forces or militia
of horse and foot in Calvert County, October 29, 1692.

On the 9th of October, 1694, the militia of the prov-
ince was reorganized and special colors designated for
horse, foot, and dragoon of the several counties. St.
Mary's was assigned red; Anne Arundel, white; Kent,
blue. This accidental distribution of colors, red, white
and blue to the three oldest counties of Maryland in
the order of their formation seems a most significant

/

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 17

happening. George Washington, from whose arms our

national emblem is derived, was yet unborn, and lyexing-

ton was four-score years in the womb of time.

"When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see!

Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be."

By this reorganization Henry Jowles succeeded Ninian
Beall as Colonel of Calvert County. At the same time
' 'It being Represented in Councill that Colonell Ninian
Beale has allways been a person very ready & Service-
able upon comotions or insurrections made by Indians
and that he is seated convenient at the head of Patuxent
River to give notice and raise Men upon all such inci-
dent and Emergent occasions — And for as much as his
Majties by his Roy all Instruction to his Kxecncy has
Comanded that fitting officers should be Appointed at the
heads of Rivers to the Sd End & purpose Ordered there-
upon that Sd Colonell Beale have a particular Comis-
sion for his Excency to raise and Comand what Men he
thinkes fit in all the neighborhood in those parts upon all
Occasions of such Comotion & insurrection so soone as
the same shall come to his knowledge."

In accordance with the Council's recommendation the
following order issued:

"I doe hereby Authorize and Empower Collonell
Ninian Beale to Execute all the powers According to the
above Order of myself and their Majties Honoble Coun-
cell, for wch this shall be his Comission.

Given under my hand & Seale this l8th day of Octobr
Annoq Dom: 1694 in the Sixth Yeare of their Majties
Reigne

ffracs Nicholson [Seal.]"

On August 17, 1695, a new county was ordered
erected in the province to be known as Prince George's
in honor of Prince George of Denmark, prince consort,

18 COI.ONEL NINIAN BEALL

whose colors should be the flag of St. George, our
Society's flag, a red cross on a white field.

The functions of county government began on April
23d, 1696, St. George's Day, an explanation for the
county sometimes being referred to in the older records
as St. George's. The seat of government was located at
Mount Calvert on the Patuxent River; and it was further
ordered by the Council that the public building should
be so constructed as to serve for the court house and
church. This precedence of Mount Calvert was of short
duration, the county-seat being moved to Upper Marl-
borough in 1706. The new county of Prince George's
consisted of four hundreds — Patuxent, Collington,
Mount Calvert, and Mattapany with a total of 514 tax-
ables. William Hatton was named as Chief-Justice with
directions to use his private seal for that of the court
until one was adopted. William Cooper was clerk of the
court, and John Addison, great-great-grandfather of
the founder of this church. Reverend Walter Dulany
Addison, colonel of militia.

Colonel Ninian Beall and Major William Barton having
been elected the first Burgesses they were inducted into
office on May 11, I696, the service of the former extend-
ing through five years. Hardly had he entered upon
his duties before he was excused by the Assembly to
inquire into the causes of some Indian alarms.

In 1697 he was one of a committee to secure peaceful
assurances from the Nanticokes and Piscataways. In
view of their unrest it was thought wise to ask the co-
operation of Colonel Beall notwithstanding he was no
longer Colonel of the county, so that Colonel Addison
was ordered to ' ' discourse ' ' Colonel Beall to ascertain

u

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL l9

if he was still willing to continue in the commission he
held for raising men upon any Indian disturbances.

Learning the desire of the Council Colonel Beall
promptly offered his services to command one party of
the new Rangers to be raised along the " Potomak;"
whereupon that body replied Colonel Beale " is well ac-
cepted of by this board. ' '

During the sessions of I698 he was a member of the
committee on Laws and the committee to examine the
accounts of Robert Mason, Treasurer of the Western
Shore, In the mid-fall of the same year he signed a
testimonial of personal regard and acknowledgment of a
beneficial administration to Sir Francis Nicholson, who
was leaving Maryland to become for the second time
Governor of Virginia.

Sir Francis was the founder of William and Mary
College, Williamsburg, Va., in 1693, after Harvard the
oldest college in the United States, and of King William's
School, now St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland,
the first free school in Maryland, and the third oldest
college in the United States. This zealous worker in the
cause of education in two provinces deserves a memorial
in their halls of fame. Appreciating his efforts Maryland
has placed a tablet to his memory in Baltimore.

In 1699 Colonel Beall represented the House of Bur-
gesses on a committee appointed by the Assembly to
investigate Indian affairs with such a marked degree of
satisfaction that he was, on July 14, 1699, made Com-
mander-in Chief of Rangers or Provincial forces, the
supreme military command in the province.

Seemingly not content with conferring this distin-
guished honor the Council, with the concurrence of

20 COLONElv NINIAN BEALL

Governor Nathaniel Blackiston, directed this memorial to
the House of Burgesses: "The consideration of this sub-
ject [Indian affairs] brings into remembrance the many
Signall Services and lyaborious Endeavours of Col Ninian
Beal one of your Members which he still Continues
Willingly Even beyond what his age seems capable of;
And that good Services may not go unrewarded and
others in time to Come Encouraged thereby to Exert
their Abilitys in the Country Service It is recommended
to your Consideration to make him some Allowance out
of the public Stock to the Value of a hundred pounds or
so much money as will buy him four Negros and that
Some person may be Appointed to buy and deliver them
to him and that they may be Settled in Some person for
his use and Supporte during his life and after during his
Wife's and after to such Child or Children as he shall
depose by his last will and testamt. and not Subject to
payment of any the said Beal's Debts."

This recommendation echoed a most pronounced senti-
ment of regard for Colonel Beall entertained by his
fellow-members of the House of Burgesses.

A bill was immediately drafted and after the required
readings the Assembly passed "An Act of Gratuity:"

' 'Whereas Colonell Ninian Beal has been found very
Serviceable to this Province upon all Incursions and Dis-
turbances of Neighbouring Indians and though now
grown very Aged and less able to performe, Yet Con-
tinues his Resolution even beyond his Ability to do the
line Service att this Juncture of Affaires it is therefore
thought fitt in Point of Gratitude, for Such his good
service done and towards his Supporte & Reliefe now in
his old age to make him an Allowance out of the Pub-
lick Revenue of this Province Be it therefore Enacted
by the Kings most Excellent Maty by and with the Ad-

COIvONEL NINIAN BEALL 21

vice and Consent of this present General Assembly and
the Authority of the Same, That Mr William Hutch-
ison a Member of this house as a Trustee for and on the
behalfe of the said Col Ninian Beal hath hereby Given
to him full power and Authority to Procure and Pur-
chase three good Serviceable Negro Slaves for the Proper
use and benefitt of him the said Colo Ninian Beal for
and during his Naturall life and after his decease to the
use of his wife during her Naturall life and after her
decease then the said Negros & Slaves and their Encrease
to the Sole use and Benefitt of their Child or Children
according to the request or Devise of him the said Ninion
Beal by will or otherwise and for that end and purpose
the said William Hutchison hath hereby full power and
Authority to draw a Bill or Bills for the Sume of
Seventy five pound Sterling upon the Treasurer of the
Western Shoar Who is likewise hereby required to Yield
and Pay the Same out of the Public Stock of this Prov-
ince for which he shall be Allowed and have Creditt in
his Acct currant att the Rendring thereof as p Act of
Assembly he is obliged And be it further Enacted by
the Authority aforesaid by and with the Advice and
Concent aforesaid That the said Negroes and their In-
crease Shall not dureing the life of the said Ninian Beal
or his wife be taken in Execution for any Judgement or
Attachment Whatsoever Obtained or hereafter to be ob-
tained any Law Statute or usage to the Contrary in any
wise Notwithstanding."

The exact date of its final passage is unknown but
Colonel Beall acknowledged receipt of the three slaves-
John, Sarah, and Elizabeth— May 28, 1699-

This act is the superlative formal expression of appre-
ciation and reward passed in favor of an individual during
Colonial times— a period of one hundred and forty-two
years.

There is an apparent discourtesy to one of their mem-
bers by the House of Burgesses in reducing the amount of

22 COLONEI. NINIAN BEALL

the gratuity from one hundred pounds sterling to seventy-
five pounds sterling as proposed by the Council. It is
more apparent than real however when we recall that
the House of Burgesses represented the people and were
the guardians of the purse-strings of the province. More-
over they purposed by such action to impress upon the
Council their absolute freedom and liberty of action for
which they were accountable to the people only and by
which they sowed the seed of future independence.

An old settlement account dated February 6, 1700,
shows Colonel Beall had ranged 241 days for which his
allowance was forty pounds three shillings four pence,
a daily rate of less than three hundred dollars a year.

The year 1700 saw his last service in the House of
Burgesses, and one might naturally think that with the
weight of seventy-five years upon him, and the "Act of
Gratuity" as an official valedictory, he would be per-
mitted to enjoy the evening of life in unmolested peace
and quiet before his own hearth-stone.

He had been instrumental in influencing the Piscata-
ways toward their choice of an Emperor in 1696. Ocho-
tomoquath had passed, and the tribe was wrangling over
his successor, when on September 21, 1704, he was or-
dered to join Colonel Addison and Colonel Small wood
and inform those Indians that they should agree upon
an Emperor to be presented to Governor Seymour at
Annapolis for his confirmation, and that at the same time
they should be prepared to pay their usual nominal trib-
ute and renew their articles of friendship.

Colonel Beall was appointed Deputy Surveyor for
Charles County December 1, I684, with instructions to
lay out ports of entry and trade towns.

On September 1 5 , I686, he was Town Officer for Mount

COLONEI^ NINIAN BEALI, 23

Calvert hundred, and on the sixteenth of August, 1692,
High Sheriff for Calvert County, a position of prominence
and emolument combining nearly all the duties of the
present-day county oflficials below the judiciary.

Early in 1672 he had a grist mill on Collington branch
where he later erected an iron foundry.

Before the landing at Plymouth Rock, Puritanism was
a living force in Virginia. Thither went its followers in
l6ll settling in Warrasquake, now Nansemond County,
where it is said Pocahontas was baptised and married by
one of their pastors in I6l4. Persecutions arose and in
1649 these religionists with William Durand as Ruling
Elder moved to Maryland, settled at the mouth of the
Severn river, which they named, and called their united
plantations Providence. Out of this settlement grew
Anne Arundel County in I65O, and Annapolis, the state
capital, in 1695.

Puritanism was sufficiently strong to temporarily
change the current of political affairs at the Battle of the
Severn in 1655, the year in which Ninian Beall sup-
posedly settled in Maryland.

It does not appear that he became involved in any of
the controversies between his coreligionists and I,ord
Baltimore's representatives though he at once became a
factor among them, succeeding Durand as Ruling Elder.
Under his guidance the creed flourished on the Western
shore of Maryland during the pastorates of Matthew
Hill and Nathaniel Taylor from I668 until 1717.

Although of healthy growth the congregation had no
church until on November 20. 1704, Colonel Beall deeded
to Nathaniel Taylor a half acre of ground in Upper
Marlborough, part of a tract of eighty-two acres, pat-
ented December 4, 1694, and known as "The Meadows."

24 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

Here a church was erected, and in 1707 he presented
the congregation a silver communion service. When the
church in Upper Marlborough was abandoned the service
was removed to Bladensburg, and subsequently to
Hyattsville. Some pieces have been lost, but of the
original two chalices and a tankard are preserved.

In 1906 the missing pieces were replaced with this
inscription thereon:

"This Server, and these Paten Covers which restore
their lost originals, are presented this 20th day of De-
cember in the year of Our I^ord I906 to the Hyattsville
Presbyterian Church of Hyattsville, Prince George's
County, Maryland,

by a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of

Col. Ninian Beall,
Alpheus Benjamin Beall of Sioux City, Iowa.
Presented in recognition of the service of Col. Ninian
Beall, Venerable Ruling Elder among the Patuxent
Presbyterians before I7OO A. D. who deeded to this Con-
gregation in Upper Marlborough
'A parcell of land' on which to erect its first 'House for

the services of Almighty God,' 1704;
who fathered this Congregation and saw it become one

of the First seven original Churches
of American Presbyterianism, I7O6; and who, in 1707

A. D., gave to this Congregation
this Communion Service, which is now, so far as known,
the oldest in use in the Presbyterian Denomina-
tion in America."

Probably Ninian Beall' s first entry of right to land
was made jointly in 1665 in the name of John Boage and
Ringing Bell. When the certificate of survey issued the
year following it conveyed three hundred acres called
"Red Hall" to John Boage and Ninian Bell.

From this date to the time of his death he j)atented

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 25

over twenty-five thousand acres, for which he received
certificates of survey for more than thirteen thousand
acres, among which were Rock of Dunbarton (795),
Bacon Hall (300), Beall's Meadows (1,088), Beall's
Choice (690), Collington (300), Edonborough (38O),
Friendship (600), Good Luck (853), Maiden's Dowry
(700), St. Andrews (980), Troublesome (3OO), Largo
(1,031).

Colonel Beall passed his last days on his Bacon Hall
plantation adjoining Mount Calvert, the first capital- of
Prince George's County, about three miles southwest of
Upper Marlborough the present county seat. Bacon
Hall was granted to him May 1, 16/2, and was his home
plantation as early as I686, when he was made Town
Ofiicer for Mount Calvert.

His will was executed on January 15, 1717, and pro-
bated on February 28, 1717, so that his death occurred be-
tween these dates. His remains were possibly buried on
his plantation in accordance with the custom of those
days, there are indications of an ancient grave-yard on
the manor-house portion of Bacon Hall, but they were
more probably interred within the confines of the God's
half-acre which his christian charity prompted him to
give to the Presbyterian congregation in Upper Marl-
borough, the present site of Trinity Protestant Episcopal
church.

Colonel Beall has been pictured with a complection
characteristic of his nationality, and an unusually heavy
growth of long red hair. Of herculean build consider-
ably over six feet in heighth, powerful in brawn and
muscle and phenomenal in physical endurance, a descrip-
tion which he sustained by his spirited activity after the
age of more than eighty years.

26 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

His wife was Ruth Moore, daughter of Richard and
Jane Moore, a barrister of Calvert County. She died
between 1699, when she was mentioned in the "Act of
Gratuity," and 1704, when she did not join her husband
in his deed of gift to the Presbyterian congregation.

His will mentions sons George, Ninian and Charles;
Mary and Samuel children of son Ninian, deceased;
sons-in-law Joseph Belt and Andrew Hambleton. George
was devised Rock of Dunbarton (408 acres patented for
795), Charles, Dunnback; a thousand-acre tract lying on
the Great Choptank river; Mary and Samuel, Bacon Hall
with the manor-house to the latter who also received his
water-mill and iron- works on Collington branch. Andrew
Hambleton received a slave. Joseph Belt, two hundred
and forty-five acres of Good Luck for a stated considera-
tion to be divided among his heirs, less an open account
for goods, wares and merchandise owed the said Belt.

A tract known as Recovery of four hundred acres
was to be sold in liquidation of outstanding debts.
Charles was bequeathed a work by Bishop Cooper and
he with George and Joseph Belt was directed to purchase
twelve copies of "advice to young & old & middle age,"
by the Reverend Christopher Ness, for distribution among
his grandchildren and godson.'

Traditionally Colonel Beall was the father of twelve
children. He mentions but three of them in his will by
which he devised about two thousand eight hundred
acres of land. Undoubtedly he had previously conveyed
property to other sons and daughters upon their reach-
ing age or marrying.

Unfortunately the records of Calvert, in which county
Colonel Beall lived until 1696, were destroyed by fire in
1882, so that it seems impracticable to secure all of their

COI.ONEIv NINIAN BEALI, 27

names. The most acceptable list includes John, Thomas,
died unmarried in England, Ninian, married Elizabeth

, Captain Charles, married Mary , Colonel

George, married Elizabeth Brooke, Sarah, married Cap-
tain Samuel Magruder, Hester, married Colonel Joseph
Belt, Jane, married Colonel Archibald Edmondstone,
Mary, married Andrew Hambleton, Margery, married
(firstly) Thomas Sprigg, 3d, and (secondly) Colonel
Joseph Belt, her sister Hester's widower; Rachael, mar-
ried Offutt, James.

The early records of Maryland identify Colonel Beall by
a variety of spelling such as: "Ninian Bale-Ringing, Bell-
Ninian, Beale-Ninion, Beale-Ninian, Ninian Bell." He
did not sign his will owing to illness, but it is his — marked
"Ninian Beall," and he apparently uniformly adopted
this style from about I667.

Some works on heraldry give his arms as:

Sable, a chevron between three wolves' heads erased
argent.

Crest — A demi-wolf sable, sustaining a half spear in
plain tasseled or.

The proper blazon is:

Arms — Azure a chevron between three bells or.

Crest— A bell or.

When Colonel Beall settled in Maryland in 1655 there
were four counties in the province: St. Mary's, Anne
Arundel, Kent and Calvert with a population of about
ten thousand. Two years before his death (1715) Mary-
land was the third most populous of the colonies with
50,200 souls, being exceeded by Massachusetts with
96,000 and Virginia with 95,000, and exceeding Con-
necticut, Pennsylvania including Delaware, New York,

28 COLONEL, NINIAN BEAI.I.

New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hamp-
shire, Rhode Island, and Georgia,

Descendants of Colonel Beall have figured conspicu-
ously in all the wars of our country, and risen to dis-
tinction in all the walks of civil life. He was the pro-
genitor of at least four governors of Maryland: Samuel
Sprigg, Enoch I,ouis Lowe, Thomas George Pratt, and
Edwin Warfield.

As Georgetonians your greatest interest probably cen-
ters in the fact that Colonel Beall was the patentee of
Rock of Dunbarton dated November 18, I703. It was
in possession of his son Colonel George Beall and became
part of the site of the town when the original survey
and plat were completed on February 27, 1752. Two lots
each having been assigned to Colonel George Beall and
George Gordon those remaining were sold on the 2d
of March following "at the house of Joseph Belt, Jr.,
living in said town," a grandson of Colonel Ninian Beall.

Born of Presbyterian parentage in Harford County,
Maryland, Stephen Bloomer Balch, pupil of John Wither-
spoon and graduate of Princeton in 1774, was captain of a
company of militia which several times had a brush with
the British during the Revolution. I^icensed to preach in
1 779 by the Presbytery of Donegal he delivered a sermon
in Georgetown and so captivated his hearers by his force-
fulness as a pulpit orator and the winsomeness of his
personality that he was asked to remain with the promise
of a church.

Missionary work in the Carolinas and Georgia first
claimed him, but on the l6th of March, 1780, he re-
turned. It is probable that his first sermon following
was delivered in a log cabin on High street. Later he
used a building at the corner of Bridge and Market

coi.on:EI, ninian beall 29

streets which served as a school-house on weekdays and
a church on Sunday. In 1782 a church was erected on
West street which was replaced by the present structure
in 1821, Thomas JefiFerson, then President, and Albert
Gallatin, his Secretary of the Treasury, being among
the contributors.

Until the year 1804 Doctor Balch was the only Prot-
estant clergyman in Georgetown. Too much the ideal
christian to restrict his ministerial services to the mem-
bers of his congregation he was a good shepherd to all
who needed material aid or craved spiritual comfort. The
nearest Episcopal church was St. Paul's, Rock Creek,
a chapel of St. John's, Broad Creek, in turn a chapel of
St. John's, Piscataway, the mother potential of many
churches.

In 1796 the Reverend Walter Dulany Addison, then
pastor at Broad Creek, made a determined effort to col-
lect a congregation and build a house of worship in
Georgetown. Colonel William Deakins gave the ground,
and about I804 the structure in which we have gathered
was sufl&ciently inclosed to permit of service-holding. It
was completed in I8O6, and consecrated in 1809.

Through all the years of effort and disappointment
preceding its erection Mr. Addison had the cheering
assistance of Doctor Balch. When his intentions of
founding a parish became known Doctor Balch offered
his own church as a place of congregating, continued his
interest in the new church project, and made a substan-
tial contribution toward its completion.

All this liberality is but a reflex of that broad Chris-
tianity which characterized Colonel Ninian Beall when
in 1691 he asked to his home the Quaker Thomas Wilson
who there remained two nights with him and held a

30 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

meeting. Wilson in writing of it all the more appre-
ciated the kindnesses extended him because "he was an
elder among Presbyterians." Again when Colonel Beall
signed a petition to King William III asking that the
Church of England become the established church of
Maryland.

And it will be still further emphasized this afternoon
when a memorial boulder to a Ruling Elder of the Presby-
terian church shall be unveiled in an Episcopal church-yard .

The origin and growth of these two denominations in
Georgetown trace from Doctor Batch and Mr. Addison.
Doctor Balch married Elizabeth Beall, great-grand-
daughter of Colonel Ninian Beall and in a later gener-
ation Colonel Beall's descendants intermarried with those
of Mr. Addison. Both of these good souls left their
impress for all that is most ennobling and even yet the
fragrance of their holy lives is like a benediction.

When the veil is withdrawn from the boulder you
may read this inscription on the tablet:

Colonel Ninian Beall
Born Scotland 1625 Died Maryland 1717

Patentee of Rock of Dunbarton
Member of the House of Burgesses
Commander-in-Chief of Provincial Forces of Maryland
In grateful recognition of his services upon all Incur-
sions of Neighbouring Indians the Maryland Assembly
of 1699 passed an "ACT OF GRATUITY." Erected
by the Society of Colonial Wars in the District of
Columbia.

1910.

The inner edge of the border showing a beaded effect,
represents wampum; the arrow-heads are modeled after
specimens gathered in Georgetown, the site of an Indian

COLONEL NINIAN BE ALL 31

village called Tohoga as early as 1608, and are alike true
to nature and to history; while the outer edge presents
Indian sketch-work indicative of sunshine and shadow.
If the name of him whom we honor today has been
long in the shadow of dark forgetfulness, let us hope
that the deference here paid him may serve to bring that
name into the bright sunshine of a worthy memory, to
be illuminated always.

Grant for **Bacon Hall/' May i, J672.

CECELIUS Absoluts Lord Propry of the Provinces of Maryland
and Avalon Lord Baron of Baltimore &c, To all persons to
whom these presents shall come Greeting in our Lord God
Everlasting

Know yee that we for and in consideracon that Ninian Beale
of Calvert County in our sd province of Maryland planter hath
due unto him Three hundred Acres of Land within our said prov-
ince part of a warrant for One Thousand & fifty acres of Land to
him granted the Eighteenth day of July last past as appears upon
record And upon such Conditions and terms as are Expressed in
our Conditions of plantation of our said province of Maryland un-
der our greater Seal at Armes bearing date at London the second
day of July in the Year of our Lord God 1649 with such alterations
as in them is made by our declaration bearing date the two and
twentieth day of September Anno 1658 And Remaining upon rec-
ord in our said province of Maryland. Do hereby grant unto him
the said Ninian Beale all that parcell of land called [Bacon Hall]
lying in Calvert County on the West side of the Western Branch
of patuxent River, and beginningat a bounded Oak being the South
East Corner Tree of the Land of Baker Brooke, Esqr called
Brookes Grove, bounded by the said Land And running South
West One hundred & sixty perches, to a bounded White Oak, in
the Line of the Land of Peter Joy, bounded by the said Joy's Land,
and running South East Two hundred and twenty perches, to a
bounded pokehikary of the said Joyes Land, and running South
West by another Line of the said Joyes Land One hundred and
Sixty perches to a bounded poplar of the said Land and run-
ning East by South One hundred and twenty perches, to a
bounded White oak, of a parcell of Land formerly laid out for
Thomas Trueman Esqr bounded by the said Land and from
the said Oak running North and by East Seventy five perches
to a bounded oak of the said Land, and from thence running still
bounded by the said Land East and by South Eighty perches to a
bounded Oak of the Land of John Bigger called [Muscle Shell] and

(33)

34 COIvONEI, NINIAN BEAI^L

North and by West Two hundred and forty perches to a bounded
Oak of a parcell of Land formerly laid out for Major Thomas
Brooke, called the Grove Landing bounding by the said Land and
running West and by North fifty perches to an Oak, and from
thence to the first bounded Tree, Containing and now laid out
for Three hundred Acres more or less, Together with all rights
profits and benefitts thereunto belonging (Royall Mines Excepted)
To have and to hold the Same unto him the said Ninian Beale his
heirs and assigns forever. To be holden of us and our heirs as of
our Mannr of Calverton in free and common Soccage by fealty
only for all manner of Services Yielding and paying therefore
Yearly unto us and our heirs at our receipt at our City of St. Maries
at the two most usuall feasts in the Year Viz At the Feast of the
Annunciation of our blessed Virgin Mary and at the feast of Saint
Michael the Arch angell by even and equitable portions the Rent
of Twelve Shillings Sterling in Silver or gold and for a fine upon
every alienacon of the said Land or any part or parcell thereof One
Whole years Rent in Silver or gold or the full value thereof in such
Comodities as we or our heirs or such officer or officers appointed by
us or our heirs from time to time to Collect and Receive the same
shall Accept in discharge thereof at the choice of us and our heirs
or such officer or officers as afd Provided that if the said Ninian
Beale his heirs or assigns shall not pay unto us or our heirs or such
officer or officers as afd. the said Sums for a fine before such alien-
acon and Enter the said alienacon upon record either in the Provin-
cial! Court or in the County Court where the said parcell of Land
lyeth within One month next after such alienacon the said alien-
acon shall be void and of none effect, — Given at our City of Saint
Maries under our great Seal of our said province of Maryland the
first day of May in the XXXXth year of our dominion over our
sd. province Annoque Domi 1672

Witness our dear Son Charles Calvert Esqr our Capt General
and chief Governr of our said province of Maryld

Patent for ''Rock of Dunbarton/'
November J8, 1703.

CHARLES Absolute Lord propry of the provinces of Mary-
land and Avalon Lord Baron of Baltimore &c. , To all per-
sons to whom these presents shall come Greeting in our
Lord God Everlasting Know yee that for and in consideracou
that Ninian Beale of Prince George's County hath due unto him
seven hundred and ninety five acres of land within our said
province being due unto him by Virtue of a warrant for five hun-
dred acres granted him the nineteenth day of May one thousand
seven hundred and two and another warrant for nine hundred and
twenty acres granted him the sixth day of May one thousand
seven hundred and two as appears in our Land office and upon
such Condicons and termes as are expressed in our Coudicons of
plantacons of our said province bearing date the fifth day of April
one thousand six hundred eighty and four and remaining upon
record in our said province together with such alteracons as in
them are made by our further Condicons bearing date the fourth
day of December one thousand six hundred and ninety six and
registered in our land office of our said province Wee doe there-
fore hereby grant unto him the said Ninian Beale all that Tract
or parcell of land called Rock of Dunbarton lying in the said
county Beginning at the South East Corner Tree of a Tract of
land taken for Robert Mason standing by potomeck River side at
the mouth of Rock Creek on a point running thence with the said
land North North West six hundred and forty ps. thence east
three hundred and twenty ps. then south six deg. and a half.
Easterly four hundred and eighteen ps. then West one hundred
and seventy five ps. then with a streight line by the creek and River
to the first bound. Containing and then laid out for seven hundred
ninety and five acres more or less according to the Cert, thereof
taken and returned into our land Office bearing date of the fourth
day of November seventeen hundred and two and there remaining
together with all rights profits benefits and priviledges thereunto

(35)

36 COLONEL NINIAN BEALL

belonging Royall mines excipted To have and to hold the Same
unto him the said Ninian Beale his heirs and assigns forever to be
holden of us and our heirs as of our manor of Calverton in free and
Common Soccage by fealty only for all manner of Services yield-
ing and paying therefore yearly unto us and our heirs at our
receipt at the City of S. Maries at the two most usuall feasts in
the year Viz at the feast of the Annunciacon of the blessed Virgin
Mary and S. Michaell the arch angell. by even and equall porcons
the rent of one pound eleven shills. and nine pence half penny
Ster. in silver or gold and for a fine upon every alienacon of the
said land or any part or parcell thereof one whole years rent in
silver or gold or the full value thereof in such Commodities as
wee and our heirs or such oflScer or ofiicers as shall be appointed
by us and our heirs from time to time to Collect and receive the
same shall accept in discharge thereof at the choice of us and our
heirs or such officer or officers as aforesaid provided that if the
said Sume for a fine for alienacon shall not be paid to us and our
heirs or such officer or officers as aforesaid before such alienacon
and the said alienacon entered upon Record either in the provin-
ciall Court or in the County Court where the same parcell of land
lyeth within one month next after such alienacon the said alien-
acon shall be void & of no effect. Given under our greater Scale
at arms this eighteenth day of November one thousand seven
hundred and three Witness our Trusty and well beloved Coll.
Henry Darnall keeper of our greater seale in our said province of
Maryland

Colonel Ninian Beall's Deed of Gift
TO THE Presbyterian Congrega-
tion, Upper Marlborough,
Maryland, November

20, 1704.

To all Christian people to whome these presents shall come
I Ninian Beall Senior of Prince Georges County in ye
Province of Maryland Send Greeting:
Know yee that I the said Ninian Beall being of a good and perfect
minde and without any ffraud or deceipt for divers good Causes
and Considerations me thereunto moving but more Especially for
ye Propagation of ye Gospell of Christ Jesus, have given, Granted
and Confirmed and by these Presents doo ffreely, voluntarily &
absolutely give grant and confirme unto Nathaniell Taylor, Min-
ister of ye Gospell to Robert Bradley James Stoddart John Battle
Archibald Edmundson Thomas Beall Senior Thomas Beall Junior
Ninian Beall Junior Charles Beall Christopher Thompson Joshua
Hall John Browne John Henry James Beall Alexander Beall
William Ophett John Soaper and to their Successors for ye Erec-
tion and Building a House for the service of Almighty God that
parcell of land being Part of a Tract of Land called the Meddows
Lying on ye Western Branch of Patuxent River in Prince Georges
County Beginning at a small Bounded Red Oake near ye North West
Corner of the said Meeting house and running East tenn perches
then South Eight perches then west tenn perches then north to ye
first tree Containing halfe an acre of Land be it more or less To
have and to Hold ye said Land and tennaments with their rights
member and appurtenances thereunto belonging unto ye said
Nathaniell Taylor Robert Bradley James Stoddart John Battle
Archibald Edmundson Thomas Beall Senior Thomas Beall
Junior Ninian Beall Junior Charles Beall Christopher Thomp-
son Joshua Hall John Browne John Henry James Bell Alexnr
Beall William Ophett John Soaper and to their Successors &

(37)

38 COLONEL NINIAN BE ALL

and to their Onely Propper use for ye affore Mentioned use &
no other from ye Day of the date hereof forever fireely Peac-
ably & Quietly without any manner of Reclaime Challenge
or Contradiction of me ye said Ninian Beall my heirs Executors
admns or assigns or of any other Person or Persons by any meanes
title or Procurement in any manner or wise and without any ac-
count recoving or answer therefor to me or any in my name to be
given rendred or don in time to Come See ye Neither I the said
Ninian Beall my heirs &c nor any other Person or Persons by us
for us or in our names or in ye names of any of us at any time
hereafter may ask Claime Challenge or demand in or to ye Prom-
ises or any Part thereof any Interest Right title or Possession but
from all action of Right title Claims Interest use possession &
demand thereof wee and Every of us to be utterly Excluded and
forever debarred by these presents, And I the said Ninian Beall
my Heirs &c ye said halfe acre of Land with the appurtenances
unto ye above named Nathaniell Taylor &c and their Successors
for ye use above mentioned against all people will warrant & De-
fend by these presents and I the said Ninian Beall have putt ye
said Nathaniell Taylor &c into peacable possession by the delivery
of a Peice of money Called Six pence whc. I have paid & Deliv-
ered unto ye said Nath Taylor in behalfe of himselfe and ye rest of
ye above named persons the day & date hereof In Witness
whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & Seale ye 20th day of
November anno 1704

Ninian Beai.l
Signed Sealed and Delivered
In Presens
John Wight
Saml Magruder

Last Will and Testament of ninian

BEALL, Executed January 15, 1717,

Probated February 28, 1717.

In the Name of God, Amen.

I NINIAN BEALL of Prince George's County in the Province
of Maryland being indisposed in body but of sound & per-
fect memory God be praised for the same & considering the
Mortality of Human nature and uncertainty of Life doe make
ordaine Constitute & appoynt this to be my last Will & Testament
in manner and form following Vizt

Impri I give and bequeath my soule into the hands of almighty
God in hopes of free pardon for all my Sinns and as for my body to
be committed to the Earth from whence it came to be Decently
buried at ye discression of my Trustees hereafter named.

Item I will and bequeath that all my Debts and funerall charges
be first paid and Satisfied and as for what portion of my Worldly
Goods as shall be then Remaining I bequeath & bestow the same
in manner following

Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonn George my Planta-
tion and tract of Land called the Rock of Dunbarton lying and
being att Rock Creeke containing Four Hundred and Eight acres
with all the stock thereon both Cattle and Hoggs them and their
increase unto my said Sonn George & unto him and his heirs
forever.

Item I do allso give and bequeath unto sd son George Beall his
choyce of one of my Feather bedds bolster & Pillow and other
furniture thereunto belonging with two cows & calves and half my
Sheepe from off this Plantation I now live on to him and his heirs
forever.

Item I do give and bequeath unto my sonn in Law Andrew
Hambleton my Negro Woman Alee unto him his heirs forever.

Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Grandaughter Mary
Beall ye Daughter of my Sonn Ninian Beall Deceased the one
halfe part of all my Movables or Personall Estate as Cattle &

(39)

40 COLONEL, NINIAN BEALL

Hoggs Horses Household goods after my Leagacies before be-
queathed are paid and satisfied unto her the said Mary & to her
heirs forever.

Item I doe give and bequeath unto my said Grandaughter
Mary Beall all yt part of Bacon Hall that lyeth on ye South side of
the Road that goeth to Mount Calvert to her the sd Mary & unto
her heirs forever.

Item I do give and bequeath unto my grandson Samuel Beall
all the remainder part of Bacvon Hall togather with the Plantation
& orchard & tobacco houses thereto belonging (with this Proviso)
that when he comes to age of one and twenty yt that he make
over by a Firm Conveyance all his Right and Title yt he hath
unto a certain tract of land called Sam's beginning on the South
side of the Sd Road going to Mount Calvert unto the sd Mary &
unto her heirs forever, but if my said Grandson Should happen to
dye before he arrive to be of that age to make over the land soe
as aforesaid then I do give and bequeath unto my said Gran-
daughter Mary ye whole Trackt of Bacon Hall with the houses and
orchard thereon unto her and her heirs forever.

Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Said Grandson Samuel
Beall my Water Mill Lying upon Collington Branch with the Stones
Iron Works Houses & all other materials thereunto belonging uuto
the sd Samuel and unto his heirs forever.

Item I give and bequeath unto my Son in Law Joseph Belt part
of a tract of land called good luck containing two hundred forty-
five Acres he allowing unto my heirs ye Sume of four thousand
Pounds of Tobacco according to our former agreement he deduct-
ing what I doe owe him on his book for Severall Wares & Mer-
chandizes had of him to the said Joseph and unto his heirs forever.

Item that whereas I doe owe Several debts I doe empower my
Trustees hereafter named to enable them to pay the same to sell
a Certain Tract of Land called the Recovery lying & being in the
Freshes of the Patuxent River near the head of the Western
Branch to be sold it containeth four Hundred acres, the aforesaid
Tract of Land bequeathed unto my Sonn Bellt is adjoining thereto.

Item I do give and bequeath unto my Son Charles Beall a Booke
of Bishop Cooper's works the Acts of the Church & the Chron-
ocle of King Charles ye first and King Charles ye Second ye
second and I doe hereby request and obleidge my sonn Charles my

COLONEL NINIAN BEALL 41

son Belt and my son George to send for a Dozen of Books intitled
an advice to young & old & middle age sett forth by one Mr
Christopher Ness ye books to be distributed amongst my Grand-
children & God Sone.

Item I do give and bequeath unto my Sonn Charles a Thousand
acres of Land called Dunnback lying on the South Side of great
Choptank in a Creeke called Waltres creek unto him & his heirs
forever and Lastly I doe make ordeine declare and appoint my
Grandson Samuel Beall to be my Sole and whole Execur of this
my last Will and Testament and I do desier my loveing Sonns
Charles Beall Joseph Belt and George Beall to doe and perform
my Desier as above Exprest and to act and doe for my Executor
untill he arrive to the age of one and twenty hereby revoaking
and annulling all former and other Wills by me att any time here-
tofore made and signed and doe desier my said Sonns to use their
best care and indeavor that my two Grandchildren the children
of my beloved Sonn Ninian Beall Deceased be brought and have
their Education Suitable to ther Esteate and I doe alsoe appoynt
and desier my said Sonns Trustees to this my Will to make their
appearance every easter Tuesday or any other time as they shall
think a more fitting time att my Dwelling Plantation yearly to
inspect into all affaires thereof and of a yearly increase of all
the Creatures upon my Plantation and att the Mill for and on the
behalfe of my two Grandchildren who are to be Joynt Sharers
therein my grandaughter to have her part at ye day of Marriage.

In Testimony whereof I have to this my last Will & Testament
Sett my hand and Seale this fifteenth day of January in the Yeare
of Our Lord God one thousand and seven Hundred and Seventeen.

the mark of
Ninian X Beall (Seal)

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE

SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS IN THE DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA, ORGANIZED MAY 20, 1893.

Register of the Society. 1897. With portrait of Richard Worsam
Meade, Rear-Admiral, U.S.N, pp. 124.

Register of the Society. 1904. With frontispiece of badge of
the Society of Colonial Wars, portrait of Francis Asbury Roe, Rear-
Admiral, U.S.N. , First Governor of the Society, and other officers.
Twenty-two portraits, pp. 214.

MEMORIAL PAPERS.

No. 1. George Brown Goode. By A. Howard Clark. With
portrait, pp. 8. 1896.

No. 2. Charles Frederick Tiffany Beale. By Marcus Benjamin.
With portrait, pp. 13. 1902.

No. 3. William Herman Wilhelm, Captain, U.S.A. By Ethan
Allen Weaver. With portrait, pp. 9. 1902.

No. 4. Francis Asbury Roe, Rear-Admiral, U.S.N. By Marcus
Benjamin. With portrait and eight other illustrations, pp. 35. 1903.

No. 5. Gilbert Thompson. By Marcus Benjamin. With portrait,
pp. 18. 1910.

No. 6. Frederic Wolters Huidekoper. By Frederic Louis Huide-
koper. With portrait, chronology, notices and resolutions, pp.
42. 1910.

HISTORICAL PAPERS.

No. 1. The Colonial Boundaries of Virginia and Maryland. By
Gilbert Thompson. With map. pp. 8. 1899-

No. 2. An American Sea Captain of Colonial Times. By Francis
Asbury Roe, Rear-Admiral, U.S.N, pp. 11. 19OO.

No. 3. Historical Military Powder-horns. By Gilbert Thompson.
With eleven illustrations, pp. 16. 19OI.

No. 4. Historical Address at Dedication of the Braddock Boulder,
Nov. 10, 1907. By Marcus Benjamin. With four illustrations, pp.
16. 19O8.

No. 5. Colonel Joseph Belt. By Caleb Clarke Magruder, Jr.
With Patent and illustration of "Chevy Chase" manor-house, pp.
36. 1909.

No. 6. Historical Address at Dedication of the Colonel Ninian
Beall Boulder, October 30, 191O. By Caleb Clarke Magruder, Jr.

With six illustrations, Grant for "Bacon Hall," Patent for "Rock
of Dunbarton," Deed of Gift to Patuxent (Md.) Congregation, and
Colonel Beall's Will, pp.44. 1911.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Address of Welcome, by his Excellency, Governor Francis A.
Roe, U.S.N. , at first dinner of the Society, December 19, 1893.
pp.8.

Preliminary draft of a Constitution, printed upon half -sheets and
sent to members for suggestions, pp. 18. November, 1894.

The preceding was adopted and printed in February, 1895. A
circular of four pages, with preamble and qualifications for mem-
bership, was printed, 1895; also, a similar circular, giving list of
members, was printed January, 1896.

A list of membership is published annually as a circular, pp. 4.

The Year Book and Register of the Society, 1897, contains the
Constitution and By-Laws as amended to that date.

Preliminary draft of Constitution, printed and sent to members
for suggestions. With cover, pp.17. April, 1902.

The preceding was adopted without change. May 13, 1902, and
printed, with embossed seal of the Society on the cover, pp. 16.

First Service, Sunday, February 12, 1905. St. John's Church,
Georgetown, D. C. (With embossed seal.) pp. 12.

Second Annual Service, Sunday, February 18, 1906. St. John's
Church, Washington. (With embossed seal.) pp. 12.

Third Annual Service, Sunday, February 17, 1907. Epiphany
Church, Washington. (Without seal.) pp.12.

Dedication service, Sunday, November 10, 1907. Cathedral
Grounds, D. C. One illustration of the Braddock tablet and
boulder, pp. 12.

Fourth Annual Church Service, Sunday, April 26, 1908. Christ
Church, Georgetown, D. C. (Without seal. ) pp. 8.

Fifth Annual Church Service, Sunday, May 2, 1909. St. John's
Church, Washington. (Without seal.) pp. 9.

Sixth Annual Church Service, Sunday, May 8, 1910. St. John's
Church, Washington. (Without seal.) pp. 9.

Dedication Service, Sunday, October 30, 1910. Colonel Ninian
Beall memorial. St John's Church, Georgetown, D. C. With
illustration of tablet and boulder, pp. 10.

C-\LEB Clarke Magruder, Jr.,

Historian.

January 27, 1911.

Jj^J^RY OF CONGRESS

0 014 368 158 0 1

* o^QVOFCONGBESS

014 368 158 0